Steve Johnson, who defeated Grigor Dimitrov in the third round of Wimbledon and will face Roger Federer on Monday, says that he and his countrymen are playing better these days.
An American man has not won a major since 2003, when Andy Roddick won the U.S. Open. No American man has reached a major final since 2009, when Roddick fell to Federer for the Wimbledon title. Prior to 2004, U.S. men were regulars in the winner’s circle, with Grand Slam champions including Pete Sampras, Andre Agassi, Jim Courier, Michael Chang, John McEnroe and Jimmy Connors.
Despite the drought, Johnson believes that his fellow Americans are on the rise.
“It's very good,” the 26-year-old said. “I mean, you've got John [Isner] at the top, who's been a leader for us. You have Jack [Sock], who is mid 20s. I'm mid 20s, Sam [Querrey is in the] 20s ... We're all right there. I think we get criticized a bit for not winning Slams, which is fair, because back in the day [we had] Connors and McEnroe and Sampras and Agassi and those guys.
"Somebody's got the numbers, but the last 10 years five guys [have] won every one, give or take one or two. Maybe in 30 years you'll look back at a guy sitting here, a Serbian guy, thinking why the drought? Because Novak [Djokovic] is gone. It's one of those things. I think it comes in waves, and hopefully we have a lot of good guys coming up. Hopefully they can push us and we can help them any way we can.”
Sock fell to Milos Raonic in straight sets on Saturday and Isner lost a five-set heartbreaker to Tsonga on Sunday. Querrey, meanwhile, pulled off the upset of the year when he stunned world No. 1 Djokovic in the third round.
Johnson has reached the fourth round of a major for the first time, and he won his first career title last week in Nottingham. The Californian has never played the 17-time Grand Slam champion.
“He's won this tournament a few times,” Johnson said of Federer with a laugh. “I have never played on Centre or 1, [and] I don't know what court we will be on. I'm assuming it will be one of those two. It's going to be a great experience. I'm going to go out there thinking I'm going to be the winner. I have no fear out there. I'm going to go out there and try and play my best tennis, and hopefully my plan works."